Moose temporarily trapped inside highway fence

The Department of Transportation has confirmed they received a similar report from a contractor who was erecting the highway fencing.

Blanford Billard is the economic development assistant for the Town of Isle aux Morts. On Nov. 4 he was returning home from an overnight trip to Corner Brook when he spotted the moose near the highway near the exit to Gallants.

Mr. Billard and his wife first noticed a few cars pulled over. Then they saw the moose on the left side of the road, running along the fence.

“He was trapped,” said Mr. Billard. “He had no way of getting out. He kept running right along the fence.”

Mr. Billard said every hundred yards or so, the moose would throw itself at the fence.

“It was amazing to watch. That fence would bend right over, almost touching the ground, and spring right back.”

He said his fear was that the moose might shoot across traffic.

“Some cars were coming our way not aware of what was going on,” he said. “It was an accident waiting to happen as far as I’m concerned.”

Although he didn’t see where it entered, Mr. Billard suspects it may have come onto the highway from a logging road almost directly across from the exit to Gallants. He said there was a break in the fence there to allow traffic onto the woods road.

Further down the highway, Mr. Billard encountered workers erecting more moose fencing on the right side of the road. He is unsure if they saw the moose but assumes they would have if the moose had continued on in the same direction.

More than two weeks later, he is surprised photos taken haven’t found their way to the media. While he wasn’t carrying a camera, he saw many people taking pictures or videos with their cell phones from the side of the road.

“I hope whoever got the pictures put them out there for everyone to see,” said Mr. Billard.

With so many people stopping to watch the event, Mr. Billard assumed someone else would report it to wildlife or transportation officials.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said the contractor who was erecting the fence did report seeing a moose inside the fencing near the highway. It followed the fence to its end and went back into the woods, according to the report.

The spokesperson said neither wildlife officials under the Department of Justice nor the transportation department received any reports or complaints from the public about a moose within the fencing.

The Department of Transportation’s records say the contractor reported seeing a moose inside the fence on Nov. 2, but Mr. Billard is certain he saw it on Nov. 4.

The incident has left Mr. Billard with serious doubts about the effectiveness of moose fencing on the highways.

“In my assessment, it’s not the solution. It’s actually made the problem worse,” he said. “Unless they’re going to block off all those little roads, and that’s not going to happen.”